CLARK FREEPORT — The transfer of seven units of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) in this freeport has started with elements from the 710th Special Operations Wing (SPOW) moving to the northern Crow Valley area traditionally used for US-Philippine military bombing exercises in Capas, Tarlac.
A reliable source who asked not to be named for lack of permission to reveal developments on the transfer, said that new buildings have already been constructed in Crow Valley to accommodate the 710th SPOW, on top of an administration building and a watchtower built years ago by the 600th Air Base Wing in the site covering some 7,000 hectares.
But the transfer of the rest of the air force units would depend on the availability of more funds. It is estimated that the transfer of the entire PAF based at Clark would cost about P9.5 billion, to include the cost of horizontal and vertical replication of needed structures found in Clark, the source said.
The plan, the source said, is to move the 410th Maintenance Wing, the Air Logistics Command, and the 420th Supply Wing, to Basa Air Base in Floridablanca, Pampanga. There were also initial plans to transfer the Air Defense Wing to Subic Freeport, but there were reports that the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) considered charging lease for land use there. “I think the matter is still under discussion,” the source said.
The PAF has been using some 300 hectares of lands within this freeport, including housing and recreation facilities built by the US Air Force before the Americans left this former US base in 1991. The PAF’s free occupancy of the huge area is under a yearly renewable memorandum of agreement between the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) which owns Clark lands, and the Department of National Defense (DND).
The plan to move out the PAF in this 4,500-hectare freeport was initially considered during the early years of the Arroyo administration, amid shortage of lands for investors at the Clark freeport.
During the Aquino administration BCDA President- CEO Arnel Casanova, in an interview with Punto!, confirmed plans to move in phases the entire PAF contingent from Clark to various destinations.
The Clark Development Corp. (CDC) which is the implementing arm of the BCDA at Clark, said that only about 149 hectares remain for lease to investors in the freeport. CDC earnings are derived mainly from land lease payments of investors.
